Wendi Nix Filled In On Baseball Tonight Last Night, And It Did Not Go Swimmingly

Karl Ravech is on vacation, so ESPN had Wendi Nix fill in on Sunday’s Baseball Tonight. It was Nix’ first time with the BBTN crew, so it was understandable that she would make a few mistakes. But a few turned into many, and after she began the broadcast by asserting that the first-place Giants “were still in contention in the NL West,” things kind of got worse from there:

We’re fans of Nix, and certainly verbal stumbles and the occasional mispronounced word are forgivable. But the sheer number of bizarre turns of phrase revealed Nix’ experience in scripted studio work didn’t prepare her for the transition to live and ad-libbed highlight coverage of baseball. The Twitterverse was especially hard on Wendi:

@Toirtap What kind of imbecile asks someone to make a straight-up prediction about who will win a regular season baseball game? Wendi Nix.

@JPatarino Wendi Nix is ruining Baseball Tonight. Way to go #ESPN. That used to be my favorite show.

This, of course, was her first time doing Baseball Tonight, and Twitter isn’t exactly the go-to for well-reasoned and even-keeled media criticism. But there were certainly some rough patches in Nix’s first time out with the BBTN crew. So, maybe next time: glasses?